Strawberry Macarons

 One of our closest Duke friends, Katy, is French, so she inspired us to make macarons. She always tells us about the macarons that she eats when she goes to visit her family in France, so we thought it might be fun to try to make something similar to remind her of home. Traveling to Paris has always been something that Jack and I have wanted to do, but haven't gotten the chance to, so why not make macarons and turn our trinity dorm kitchen into our own little Paris! 

Macarons have been around since about 1971 during the French Renaissance. Since then, they have grown in popularity not only in France, but around the world as well. Both Jack and I have tried the US versions of macarons, but we have never truly experienced an authentic French macaron, so visiting France and trying macarons, among other amazing foods, would definitely be a great experience that would be part of a good life for us both. 

Before making these macarons, we had to decide on a flavor because there are so many different flavors, and after talking for a while, we decided on strawberry (Caroline has a thing for strawberries, lol). We looked up different recipes and found one that was highly rated, which we followed to make them. After looking at the recipe, we realized that we actually needed to go our and buy lots of supplies: a macaron tray, freeze dried strawberries, and yet another piping bag tip. 

This was a very long process that consisted of a lot of separating eggs, blending things, and waiting a whole hour before even putting the macarons in the oven. Then, we had to make the filling, bake the macarons, and put them all together. What a process! This was definitely worth it, though, because they were SO GOOD!!

Our Macarons!

Of course, we had to put our macarons to the real test by having Katy try them; she is the best judge, after all. She loved them! She said that they tasted almost authentic, which is pretty good for a couple of rookie bakers. 

Making these macarons made us want to go to France even more, but also gave us a little taste of the culture, which was super exciting. Overall, it was a really fun time, even though it took 5 hours, to make these macarons, and they were so good that we might just have to make them again! Even though we can't hop on a plane and go to France right now, making food from there gives us a good glimpse into what it might be like to travel there one day, and that's definitely something we want to do now.